One of Goodhue County’s dairy princesses this year has been selected as a finalist in the Minnesota State Princess Kay of the Milky Way program. One of these ten young ladies will be chosen to represent the dairy industry for the next year, later this summer.
Natalie Clemenson is the daughter of Brian and Tiffany Clemenson, and the older sister to Troy and Grant Clemenson. She grew up on her family's dairy farm just outside of Zumbrota, MN. Natalie graduated from Zumbrota-Mazeppa High School in 2023 and will be a Junior this fall at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, majoring in Dairy Science with Minors in Ag Business and Spanish.
On her family's farm she helps with many things including feeding calves and youngstock, milking, monitoring health, treatments, and making breeding decisions. Her favorite chore/thing to do on the farm is caring for the calves. Natalie says she “enjoys the calf chores because every calf has a unique personality. It is fun and rewarding to watch the calves grow and get them off to the best start we possibly can.” She relates she was in the barn during chores as a baby with my mom before I could even walk, and as soon as she could was holding a bottle and helping with the calves. Her responsibilities on the farm have only grown with time and she now enjoys helping with anything and everything that needs to be done.
Natalie purchased a Brown Swiss heifer in 2018 and has added to the herd to start her own small herd of seven Brown Swiss cattle. Their farm is primarily Holsteins, but she says “there is just something special about the Brown Swiss cattle, that I loved and this led to the start of my own small herd.” Her family milks 90 cows in a double 8 parallel parlor.
Natalie was active in 4-H showing dairy cattle and dairy market goats. In 2023 she was a finalist in the Minnesota Dairy Showcase at the State Fair. She also participated in FFA throughout high school and served as the region president in 2023/24 and the State Reporter in 2024/25.
Natalie explains her passion for pursuing the dairy princess crown. “The Princess Kay Program is something that I have dreamed of being a part of for a long time. I remember going to watch my first coronation as a young girl and looking up to the girls on stage and seeing the new Princess Kay be crowned. The Princess Kay and entire Dairy Princess program across the state is very important to our dairy community. The story and message of dairy is something that is very important and the Princess Kay program works to share this story on an even larger scale. To have this opportunity to be in this program is something very special to me and I am very honored to be able to continue to be an advocate for dairy and dairy farmers.”
A few of her favorite stories on the farm involve working with family. Her brothers always help keep chores entertaining and fun, whether it’s a new joke to be told or turning old milking gloves into water balloons and starting water fights. During the school year Natalie comes home to help on the farm on weekends. This summer she is working as an agronomy intern with Ag Partners in Goodhue crop scouting fields.
Moving forward upon the completion of her college education, Natalie plans to pursue a career within dairy nutrition and remain at least partially involved with the family farm. “The dairy community has given me many opportunities and a lot of support throughout the years, that it is something I want to remain involved with and give back to. I also plan to be a part of supporting youth organizations and groups like 4-H and FFA because the youth are the next generation of agriculture and I have had some amazing supporters throughout my involvement in these organizations,” Natalie explains.
She comments about her choice saying, “To me the dairy community is a supportive, important, and innovative community. Dairy farmers and all those who are involved within dairy continuously work hard to ensure that safe and nutritious products are available for consumers while taking the best care of their cows and improving their sustainability. I would like to support the dairy community by continuing to advocate on behalf of dairy and share its story. I also plan to pursue a career within dairy and remain directly involved within the dairy community in the future.”
